Sundance Film Festival 2026 Winners: Every Grand Jury and Audience Award

Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners — every verified Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award, and major jury honor from the 42nd edition held in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, culminating in a ceremony at The Ray Theatre on Friday, January 30, 2026. Beth de Araújo’s Josephine became the night’s defining double winner, claiming both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award presented by Acura. Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman’s climate documentary Nuisance Bear topped the U.S. Documentary competition, while Visar Morina’s Shame and Money and To Hold a Mountain by Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić won the World Cinema dramatic and documentary Grand Jury prizes. Whether you missed the livestream or want every category in one scrollable hub, this page lists the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners sourced from the official Sundance Institute release, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. We cover results and records — not outfit breakdowns. For sibling festival hubs, see our Cannes Film Festival 2026 winners list, Venice Film Festival explained Golden Lion guide, and broader Awards coverage.

The Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners reflect a programming year that introduced audiences to 97 feature-length and episodic works and 54 short films — curated from 16,201 submissions — screening in Utah and online nationwide through February 1. Eugene Hernandez, Director of the Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming, called the edition a memorable celebration of Robert Redford’s founding vision during the festival’s final Utah gathering before the event relocates to Boulder, Colorado, in January 2027. Below, we organize verified Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners by the categories readers search most, with jury citations and Oscar-season context where relevant.

Sundance Film Festival 2026 Winners: Ceremony at a Glance

Before diving into category-by-category results, here is the framework for the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners. The 42nd edition ran in Park City and Salt Lake City from mid-January through February 1, 2026, with competitive awards announced at The Ray Theatre on January 30. All feature award-winning films streamed online nationwide through the final festival day, with select in-person screenings for passholders. Short film awards were announced separately on January 27 at The Park in Park City.

Key ceremony facts for the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners:

• Awards date: January 30, 2026
• Venue: The Ray Theatre, Park City, Utah
• Submissions: 16,201 total; 97 features/episodic works programmed
• Top double winner: Josephine (U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury + Audience Award)
• U.S. Documentary winner: Nuisance Bear
• World Cinema dramatic winner: Shame and Money
• World Cinema documentary winner: To Hold a Mountain
• NEXT Innovator (Adobe): The Incomer
• 2027 relocation: Boulder, Colorado (final Utah edition)

Sundance Film Festival 2026 Winners: Grand Jury Prizes

Grand Jury Prizes anchor every Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners conversation because they signal which independent films guild voters, critics, and Oscar pundits will track through spring awards season. The 2026 U.S. Dramatic jury included Janicza Bravo, Nisha Ganatra, and Azazel Jacobs; the U.S. Documentary jury featured Natalia Almada, Justin Chang, and Jennie Livingston.

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic — Josephine

Winner: Josephine / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Beth de Araújo)

After 8-year-old Josephine accidentally witnesses a crime in Golden Gate Park, she acts out in search of a way to regain control of her safety while adults are helpless to console her. Cast includes Mason Reeves, Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, Philip Ettinger, Syra McCarthy, and Eleanore Pienta. The jury cited “the depth and nuance of storytelling” and “the delicate and elegant execution of a challenging subject matter” when awarding the top U.S. dramatic prize on the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners list.

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary — Nuisance Bear

Winner: Nuisance Bear / U.S.A., Canada (Directors: Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman)

A polar bear navigates a human world of tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life. The jury praised the film for confronting climate change, Indigenous tradition versus Western encroachment, and humanity’s relationship with the natural world — calling it “humorous, terrifying, and unforgettable.” Nuisance Bear stands among the most-discussed documentary wins on the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners list.

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic — Shame and Money

Winner: Shame and Money / Germany, Kosovo, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Belgium (Director: Visar Morina)

After losing their livelihood in a village, a Kosovar family moves to the capital in pursuit of a place in a hypercapitalist society. Cast includes Astrit Kabashi, Flonja Kodheli, Kumrije Hoxha, Fiona Gllavica, and Alban Ukaj. The jury honored Morina’s “powerful and unique portrayal of human dignity in contemporary Kosovo” on the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners list.

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary — To Hold a Mountain

Winner: To Hold a Mountain / Serbia, France, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia (Directors: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić)

In the remote highlands of Montenegro, a shepherd mother and daughter defend their ancestral mountain from becoming a NATO military training ground. The jury called it “visually and emotionally stunning” and “the truest example of the power of cinema to make the personal political” among Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners.

Sundance Film Festival 2026 Winners: Audience Awards

Audience Awards on the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners list reflect ticket-buyer and online-viewer enthusiasm — often diverging from jury taste and predicting commercial breakout potential. Acura presented U.S. competition audience honors; United Airlines presented World Cinema audience awards; Adobe presented the NEXT audience prize.

Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic (Acura) — Josephine

Josephine became the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners list’s only feature to claim both Grand Jury and Audience honors in the U.S. Dramatic competition — a rare double that historically boosts Oscar-season visibility for independent dramas.

Audience Award: U.S. Documentary (Acura) — American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez

David Alvarado’s portrait of Luis Valdez — the Chicano storyteller behind Zoot Suit and La Bamba — won the documentary audience prize, even as Nuisance Bear claimed the Grand Jury trophy on the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners list.

Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic (United Airlines) — HOLD ONTO ME (Κράτα Με)

Myrsini Aristidou’s Cyprus-Denmark-Greece co-production follows 11-year-old Iris reconnecting with her estranged father at a dilapidated shipyard. The World Cinema dramatic audience win adds a second Greek-language title to festival buzz alongside jury favorites on the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners list.

Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary (United Airlines) — One In A Million

Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes’ decade-spanning portrait of a Syrian girl’s journey from war to exile and back won the documentary audience prize — the same directing team also claimed the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award on the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners list.

Audience Award: NEXT (Adobe) — Aanikoobijigan

Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil’s documentary about tribal repatriation specialists fighting to return Indigenous human remains from museum archives won the NEXT audience honor, complementing jury prizes for The Incomer and TheyDream in the experimental section of the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners.

Sundance Film Festival 2026 Winners: NEXT, Directing, and Special Jury Honors

Beyond the four Grand Jury Prizes, the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners include directing awards, the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, editing honors, and special jury citations across U.S., World, and NEXT sections.

NEXT Innovator Award (Adobe) — The Incomer

Louis Paxton’s U.K. comic fable about siblings on a remote Scottish isle blending folklore with formal playfulness won the NEXT Innovator Award. The jury cited “deadpan humor, animation, and myth” as proof that “fearless invention can be both uproarious and deeply humane” among Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners.

Notable Directing and Writing Wins

• Directing Award, U.S. Dramatic: Josef Kubota Wladyka — Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty!
• Directing Award, U.S. Documentary: J.M. Harper — Soul Patrol
• Directing Award, World Cinema Dramatic: Andrius Blaževičius — How to Divorce During the War
• Directing Award, World Cinema Documentary: Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes — One In A Million
• Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, U.S. Dramatic: Liz Sargent — Take Me Home
• Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award, U.S. Documentary: Matt Hixon — Barbara Forever

Special jury awards recognized debut features (Bedford Park), ensemble casts (The Friend’s House is Here), journalistic excellence (Who Killed Alex Odeh?), and impact for change (The Lake, a Utah nuclear-environment documentary with particular local resonance). Short film Grand Jury Prize went to The Baddest Speechwriter of All by Ben Proudfoot and Stephen Curry, announced January 27.

Who Won the Most at Sundance 2026?

Josephine leads the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners conversation with two top-tier honors — U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. One In A Million claimed both the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award and the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award, making it the strongest multi-category documentary performer. No single title swept every jury category, but the split between jury and audience favorites — especially in U.S. Documentary, where Nuisance Bear and American Pachuco divided top honors — mirrors Sundance’s tradition of celebrating both critical rigor and crowd enthusiasm.

Filmmakers and titles entering Oscar season from the Sundance Film Festival 2026 winners list include Josephine for independent drama, Nuisance Bear for documentary feature consideration, and breakout NEXT section titles like The Incomer. For the complete 2026 awards-season picture, cross-link to our SAG Awards 2026 winners list, Golden Globes 2026 winners full list, and Oscar winners 2026 full list when Academy results publish.

Sundance Film Festival 2026 Winners and the Global Festival Calendar

Sundance opens the calendar-year festival circuit that continues through Cannes in May and Venice in late summer. Our Cannes Film Festival 2026 winners list tracks Palme d’Or and side-competition results, while the Palme d’Or winners list by year provides historical context. For Venice, see Venice Film Festival explained Golden Lion. Together these hubs map how indie breakouts at Sundance translate — or do not — into European festival laurels and eventual Oscar nominations.

Explore More Festival and Awards Coverage

• Cannes results: Cannes Film Festival 2026 winners list
• Palme history: Palme d’Or winners list by year
• Venice primer: Venice Film Festival explained Golden Lion
• Cannes moments: Cannes most controversial moments in history
• SAG results: SAG Awards 2026 winners list
• Golden Globes: Golden Globes 2026 winners full list
• Oscars hub: Oscar winners 2026 full list
• Full archive: Awards category